Change: Count On It

After a week of making cheese and attending the farmer's market on Sunday, I'd sort of planned on yesterday being an "off" day, with plenty of time to get the house spiffed before the guys got here on Tuesday (today).  Therefore I was caught flatfooted in the morning when Dave messaged me that he and a "hang-around" were coming up and would be here soon.  Yikes!  Sean Connery (my dream date) could be on his way and I would still have to go milk goats and clean the barn and leave the house as is.  I was no more than back in the house when the fellas rumbled up.  Love the sound of those Harleys.  Curtis, the hang-around, was introduced.  The guys aren't dubbed with a moniker until and unless they become a bona fide member of the club.  Dave (Bammer) pointed Curtis to the wood splitter and went to get the chainsaw.  There's always a hitch in the git-along.  I had not been told that we were out of the special oil required to mix with gasoline for the chainsaw and without which it cannot be used.  The little store in Fair Play is closed on Mondays so it meant a trip to Mt. Aukum, which of course delayed my starting the soup that had been planned for lunch (today).  Even so, it all came together in the end.  The guys split, cut, and stacked the better part of a cord of wood, and Curtis went above and beyond and loaded the porch rack to the gunnels, and the soup was ready at the right time.  Just before they left, Dave told me he and Clay and maybe Zip would be up again tomorrow (today).  Yikes!!

A change in plans that involves cooking can throw me into a tizzy.  Now what to feed them?  Later, I learned that Zip had come down with something unpleasant and wouldn't be here, and that Clay was coming regardless (didn't want to lose those "good son" points), and Dave was reconsidering because of the rain.  To cook or not to cook, that is the question.

Another example of how quickly things can change was the sky at sundown.  The rain clouds had been organizing all afternoon, but made for lovely striations at end of day and this was taken on my way back up from the barn.

In the few minutes it took to tuck all the chickens in, with Ginger hot on my heels, the sun shouted a last hurrah and blazed into glory.

After dark, the rain came and it poured for awhile.  Long enough to bring out the rain beetles, those big, buzzing beetles that are drawn out of the ground by moisture.  I've heard them referred to as the Volkswagons of the beetle world.  If the cats had fun with the flies, they were ecstatic with the rain beetles that banged and buzzed on windows and screens.  Ralph and Celeste ran from room to room and window to window, wanting badly to invite the new toys in.  "No."

It's still dark and I have no idea what the day will bring.  I could make plans and they still might change.  Count on it.